Breeeeathe, juuuust breeeeathe.

Ok, so at this point in the summer, my vision was to have a classroom with colorful bulletin boards in place, desks arranged with ample walking room in between, a super organized desk with pictures and alma mater memorabilia, and my beautiful library with the 300+ books I've accumulated, all organized in neat bins with colorful pillows and a cozy reading spot for my little friends.  Sounds wonderful, right?

Want to know what it actually looks like?  Piles and piles of books, Dollar Tree baskets, and an assortment of random classroom items scattered about the guest bedroom and living room in our little apartment.  Pillows, bookshelves (still in the boxes, mind you), pocket charts, lamps, and a {super cute but still rolled up} IKEA rug, all shoved into a little corner in my fellow 3rd grade teacher's room at school.  You could say that things have not exactly gone according to plan.  Why, you ask? Well turns out, the room I took pictures of.  The room I had sat in and rearranged and planned out where everything was going to go.  Yeah, it's not my room anymore.  They moved me.  Now, all of the rooms in the school are pretty much the same, so no big deal, right? Just put everything in the same place and start getting your stuff in there! Yes, that would be great, except that at this point, I don't have a room.  That's right.  I meet my kiddos and their parents in less than 2 weeks, and I have not been assigned a new room.  Oh, and it gets better.  My amazing mom came to my rescue to help me load and haul everything to school and help me set everything up, only to find out once we got to the school that we wouldn't be able to do anything because I didn't have a room to do it in.  So now, I am patiently waiting for my room assignment and key while all my crap valuable teaching and learning materials are shoved into the corner of my wonderful coworker's room, all the while seeing pictures of my fellow teaching friends posting pictures of their adorable classrooms already set up and already looking adorable.  Le sigh.

Ok, complain session over.  I completely understand that there are always unforeseeable changes over the summer.  And some teachers don't even know what or even where they're teaching at this point.  So I am still counting my blessings that I even have a job and that it's at a wonderful school.  And that I get to meet my little ones in just a very short time! Plus, my mom  is coming back to help me once I finally do get into my room.  Seriously, I told her a million times that she didn't have to come because I felt terrible that she had already come once and we didn't even get to do anything in the room. But being the wonderful mom she is, she insisted.  Have I mentioned how amazing my mom is? 'Cause she is.

So anyway, that's why I have yet to post ANY classroom pics.  I've just been sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for word.  HA! Yeah right.  I have been making posters, organizing my library {good gracious, that's an exhausting job}, writing my classroom procedure book, etc. etc. and lots more etceteras.

Hoping to hear something by tomorrow -- just cross your fingers that I get to see my classroom before my kids do ;)

My Classroom - The Befores

Well, it's finally happened.  I got to see my classroom today! I have to admit, I got a mix of underwhelming/overwhelming feelings all at the same time when I walked in.  I was a little underwhelmed because it looked very empty and very...well...blah. But I have to remind myself that there is nothing in it so the blahness is only temporary.  I felt overwhelmed because it's just so EMPTY and I just feel like I have so much to do before my kiddos come in less than 4 weeks. But I do love how big and spacious it is! And there seems to be a pretty good bit of storage space, which is always a plus!

So let me give you the grand tour...

(I didn't bring or do anything in it today.  I just went to look, so these before pictures are completely authentic.  They show the room exactly how it looked when I walked in and saw it for the very first time!)

View when you first walk in the door

View from the back, right side of the room

View from the back, left side

My desk area!

Front of the room

Side wall and windows

Back of the room

Back of the room, part 2

View from my desk where I will be looking on as my little friends work

So there you have it...my room! I will update on the progress, but I may skip the pics and save all "after" pictures until the very end of summer, right before my kiddies come, when it's all bright and clean and ready.  That way the transformation will be much more visible and jaw-dropping (whoa, that's some serious pressure I'm putting on myself -- I better get crackin')

And of course, any suggestions are welcome!

Ode to Target

My family and hubby will vouch for the fact that I am obsessed with Target.  However, since getting married and quickly realizing that money doesn't magically appear in my bank account (sorry, Mom and Dad!) I haven't been making my weekly Target trips.  It's a dangerous place where I go in for "a few things" and leave with 2 cartfuls of things I DO NOT NEED (one time, I literally bought a giant clothespin. It was just one clothespin and it was about 50x the size of a regular clothespin.  Seriously? Who would see that and ever think, "Wow a giant clothespin! I know exactly what I can do with that! I have to have it!") Anyhoo, today I decided to finally return to my beloved Target because I needed some things they don't carry at my regular grocery.  After cruising by the Starbucks (my two favorite places in one building...seriously, the place is Heaven) I passed by the Dollar Spot which is conveniently located right by the entrance.  And what should they have in the Dollar Spot this week you ask?  TEACHER STUFF.  OMG.  I could barely contain my excitement.  I seriously stood in that section picking through EV ERY THING I could get my little hands on.  So now I bring to you my finds! Keep in mind that everything you see here is A DOLLAR.  I know. I know! My mind was blown too.

First up, we have books, books, books! This was the very first thing I spotted and was super excited  about them.  I have been building my library collection all summer (I'll dedicated another post to that!) but was excited to add some classics.  These are modified junior editions and are all grade 3 reading level...it was fate!  

Next we have these little tin buckets.  Yes, those are little chalkboard labels on each of them.  Adorbs, right? That was the part I was most excited about.  I'm thinking about keeping sharpened pencils in one, unsharpened in another, and maybe erasers in the third.   

 Then I spotted a few of these little pocket charts and grabbed some.  I heart pocket charts but the good ones can be a little espensive.  Do I care if these fall apart on me in the next year? No. They were a dollar. I will get my money's worth out of them. 

 

 Then I had to grab some other little goodies. A little Math Bingo game, some bookmarks and stickers.  Because a teacher can never have enough stickers. 

And now for the grand finale....

Mini dry-erase boards and tiny little markers!!! Yay!!!!

I knew I wanted to have dry erase boards in my classroom, because they have SO MANY USES (writing practice, math facts, class games, understanding check, etc. The possibilities are endless!) However, they can be expensive as well.  I was going to make my own OR I've heard you can buy shower board at Home Depot and they will cut it for you.  But when I saw these, I had to jump on them.  Already cut, double-sided, $1 a piece, AND they have handwriting lines.  Ummm....I'll take 20, thank you very much. And how adorable are those little dry erase markers?  I can already see my little ones using them to solve division problems and practice their cursive!

So there you have it.  My stumble-upon finds, all for a dollar.  Thank you, Target!!